Why We Clean Green

August 26, 2015

This week in Stockholm, thousands of experts, practitioners, business innovators and decision-makers from around the world have gathered for World Water Week, an annual event held by the Stockholm International Water Institute to find solutions to the most pressing water-related challenges of today and tomorrow. In 2014, over 3,000 individuals and 270 convening organizations from 143 countries participated, a number expected to rise this year.

Without access to safe and plentiful water, it can be difficult to sustain a productive economy, live healthy lives or produce food, energy and other basic necessities and commodities. While we are currently celebrating World Water Week here in the Great Southern Land, Australian Uniform is committed year-round providing clean and “green” solutions for our clients that are sustainable, cost-effective and environmentally responsible.

Putting our company values into action, we have taken many steps to mitigate our impact on the surrounding area, looking at how we can limit excessive use of freshwater resources and make smart choices with our non-toxic detergents. One of the first steps we took was in our choice of machine. Currently every item laundered by yours truly is done in large extractors, units very effective in reducing water consumption due to their design without loss of cleansing power.

We also use a low alkaline detergent, known more scientifically as sodium metasilicated based alkalis, so that any product left after laundering and discharged into the sewer (and ultimately, to the environment) is as close to a neutral PH as possible. This means that we don’t have to dilute the leftover wash water with fresh water, as a higher alkaline detergent would require, to achieve a low PH balance. This is a higher standard that we hold ourselves to than is currently required by most government agencies. From our industry experience, we estimate that we save up to 5 percent of our freshwater use with this single step.

Rather than high alkaline detergents that produce a lot of bubble action, our low alkaline detergent choice is also low sudsing and free rinsing. Free rinsing means that the detergent releases easily from textiles, rinsing away with less water following the main wash. Typically, we estimate that we additionally save up to 12 percent of our total water usage by choosing a free rinsing detergent, saving us time washing away bubbles and making a large difference in our environmental footprint.
As highly visible events like World Water Week spotlight our responsibility to the planet Earth we call home, we look forward to delivering cleaner and greener solutions for years to come! Interested in joining the conversation? You can follow all the World Water Week events with #WWWeek on Twitter!